our first christmas at home.

our "every other holiday family swap schedule" landed us in phoenix for christmas this year... our home to be exact. after a great christmas eve at tricia & earl's we woke up on christmas morning in our bed. it was a little strange at first but ended up being a wonderful new twist on the holiday. after sleeping in, we lit a bunch of candles, got the fire going, all the christmas tree & garland lights turned on and danny made the coffee while i set the table for christmas brunch with vicky and joe. being away from home, it was important to me to bring my family's traditional holiday breakfast to the desert, so we made our first batch of eggs benedict and orange frappe (danny did most of the work and they both turned out perfectly). after brunch, we popped some champagne for mimosas, opened gifts and played a round of apples to apples before heading to the dine-in theater for sherlock homes (having the option to reserve seats is perfect for the holiday movie-goers). the night ended with  take-out chinese and an hour-long skype session with my family in san diego watching our 4.5 year old niece jayden open our gifts, my brothers playing christmas carols on the piano and messing around with their toys, primarily a remote controlled helicopter. 

it was a beautiful christmas and reminded us that home is where the heart is.  i believe christmas tends to make us feel like kids again and we imagine the holidays a certain way... the way things have always been. but as we get older things will inevitably change, so all we can do is stay positive, enjoy the friends and family we are blessed to have nearby and blend our favorite family traditions into new ones.

{vicky & joe delivered our christmas tamales from grandma peggy}

{we splurged on La Grande Orange english muffins for our eggs benedict}

{huntie opening his presents from mimz}

{showing off his dumbbell squeaker toy}

{the bocktings with the orange frappe drink}

{breakfast morning table for four}

{the cooks in the kitchen}

{ting opened up a couple gifts early so he could use them. new griddle and silicone egg rings}

{b-joe stepping in to give some pointers on the eggs}

{the finished product. homemade eggs benedict. a delicious christmas tradition}

{post-breakfast mimosas}

{gift opening in the sitting room}

{vicky is officially a hot chick}

{d showcasing his totally awesome onion chopping goggles}

{annual bockting family calendar}

{checking out my new "parking mat" for the garage. complete with a hump to stop me}

{an awesome tag ting picked out for my gift}

{quite excited about his new garment bag - the patagonia burrito}

{my new rainbow camera strap handpicked by ting}

{my man loves him some herdez salsa. which we've only seen in little cans. this. was. exciting.}

{post-gift game time. apples to apples}

{good times during game time}

{so, these are the 8 cards i won... notice anything funny about them?}

{pajama rama on christmas morning. and yes, i actually found lace pj pants. yup.}

{skyping with the schramm family in san diego. miss jayden opening her guitar from us}

{miss jayden showing off her pembo penguin}

we hope you had a very merry christmas with your loved ones